Meadville, Maplewood eliminated in quarterfinals of PIAA volleyball

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SHARPSVILLE -- Saturday was a rough day for Crawford County volleyball.

Maplewood was edged by top-ranked Clarion in a hard-fought PIAA Class A quarterfinal 26-24, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21 before Meadville was knocked off by Mars 25-18, 27-25, 20-25, 25-16 in a Class AA quarter-final at Sharpsville High School.

"It's disappointing because we played right with them," Maplewood coach Sheila Bancroft said. "We needed a little bit more offense and couldn't stop their outside (players). They were getting over our blocks."

Morgan Bailey and Hannah Wolf put together big days for Clarion (20-1), the District 9 champion. Bailey crushed 14 kills and had five blocks, while Wolf had 12 kills. Gretchen Vandermeer dished out 39 assists, while Katie Fillman had eight blocks and Ellie Burns had 29 digs.

The Bobcats jumped out to a 26-24 win in the first game before Maplewood (17-1) stormed back with a 25-21 victory in the second game. Madalyn Nicols and Kendra Turner both had big performances, including clutch kills in the second game. Nicols finished with 18 kills and 15 digs, while Turner had 11 kills.

Maplewood fought hard over the final two games, but the Bobcats' size and strength were too much.

"They were bigger than us and we played good defense in the back, but at some point you have to get more touches," Bancroft said.

Jaricka Simmerman finished with 38 assists and nine digs for the Tigers, who also had contributions from Emily Merritt (30 digs), Jessa Covine (8 kills) and Taylor Smith (10 digs).

"Maplewood has done a great job at improving and they are much better than the team we saw earlier this year in a tournament," Clarion coach Shari Campbell said. "Sheila (Bancroft) has done a great job getting them this far."

Meadville (18-3) went up against a powerful offense in Mars (17-1). Katie King was all over the place to collect 41 assists for the Fighting Planets, while Abby Matusik had 16 kills and Emily King and Jade Zimmer had 10 kills apiece.

After dropping the first two games, the Bulldogs rallied in the third, but Mars dominated the fourth game to move on to the semifinals.

"I thought we came out slow and we were digging and fighting for every point," Meadville coach Tammy Webber said. "They had a lot of offensive weapons and we didn't match up as well as I would have liked."